The Exclusion
by Pitchnight Badger
Summary: Many years ago, Michelangelo makes a mistake and is kicked out of the family through a rash decision of his elder brothers. While going to bring him back, the three believe him dead, and continue to do such for three years. But suddenly Michelangelo is alive, and a part of a large band of mutants bent on fighting the Krang. Will he forgive them? Or will murder be afoot?
1. Rash Mistakes

**Mikey's POV**

I ran for my life, it was your typical movie-like setting, rain was thundering down, tears were streaming down my face, I was alone, and crushed. I wasn't running toward the lair, I was running away. I was running away from my family. Not because I was being bratty and I had had enough of my brothers, so I wanted to cause a scene. I made a mistake, I endangered all of my brothers and they didn't take the close call lightly, Leo got hurt, he got hit with a kraang gun, and they all ordered me to leave. Leo was Fine, just a bit dazed,

I'm being as serious as a turtle can get, they said that they'd be better off if I was gone, and watched me and allowed me to run away. I even heard Raph scream after me,

"AND DON'T COME BACK!" That's what broke me down to the point of tears. like a coward I was running away from home. Everything I've ever known, Master Splinter, April, Casey, my brothers. I heaved another sob, but kept running, why did this have to happen to me?!

I sat down in an Alley, I felt too emotionally exhausted to keep running, and I felt too exposed on the rooftop, so there I sat, nestled near the wall and the trashcan.

"well well well... what have we here?" I looked up in panic to see exactly what I didn't want, Purple dragons, armed with knives galor. I hopped up, dispite being battered and tired, and hopelessly alone, I needed to make it out alive. I seriously didn't know why, I really didn't have any more reasons to live, my family pushed me away, I had no where else to go, all my happiness was with my brothers. I felt like death would be the easy way out, but then again, me and my conscious was never easy, so I fought.

Cornered and beaten down, no spirit in my swing, no purpose in my pose. I halfheartedly tried to beat them, but it must of been my animal instincts that drove me forward.

It was down to one-on-one.

"C'mon man," I sighed, "I'm not in the mood. I'm going off on my own, I won't be bothering you guys anymore." I didn't even feel like trying to negotiating with this guy.

"don't worry," he smiled sharkishly, pulling out a gun, "I'll make your demise SLOW." Three shots rang out into the night and an inhuman howl of agony and pain followed.

The gang member ran off, leaving this injured terrapin to his fate. the man with the gun fired three shots into my left arm. purposly leaving me to suffer till death wrapped his tendril-like grasp around me.

I screamed in the worst kind of pain, luckily the thunder drowned me out, not that there was anyone out at the moment anyway.

I gripped my injured arm with my left hand, a new wave of terror seized me, I got to my feet and climbed the fire escape to the roof. I don't know why, I guess I just didn't want to die in some Alley, I'd rather do it surrounded by the lights of the city I loved. let the clean rain wash the blood from my body.

"Lookie here." a new voice sounded to my right, which I stumbled to my feet and grappled shakily for my nun-chuck, my left arm was limp, and my right was swinging my weapon of choice clumsily.

I was staring in the face of a huge, armored, Rinosurus. he looked unarmed and chuckled at me, almost...warmly.

"well well, you look pretty banged up, kid." he was taunting me. but it didn't seem like it, he must just have very advanced sarcasm.

"shutup...an'..." I huffed out, trying to breath through the lack of blood. "Fight me...I've got...nothin' to live for...anyway..." I dropped to my knees, and flopped onto my back. The rino rushed forward, I kept my eyes open, I awaited patiently for my end. the Rino dropped to his knees next to me,

"you'll be okay kid." he tried to assure me, Why was he assuring me? "Look," He said, pulling out a white cloth, and dripping a bottle of something on it. "this'll knock you out for a while okay? just till I can get you some help, okay?" I nodded, I didn't know why he was helping me, but he was, and my blurred brain caught that and only that.

"I want you to inhale this deeply alright?" he put the cloth over my face, I did as I was told, and started to feel a bit drowsy. but before I went under, I saw him stand and pick up my fallen nun-chuck,

"Gotta break all ties from your previous world, kid" the Rino snapped my precious given weapon in half, "this is your life now." and everything was enveloped into darkness.

* * *

**Back at the lair**

the air was thick with anxiety, tension, and guilt.

The eldest of the brothers were pacing back and forth. The hothead of the family seemed to be halfheartedly hitting his favorite punching bag, but not with as much force as he had usually did. and everyone's favorite genius was fooling around with wires in a small device, not entirely paying attention as to what he was doing, and earning a few electric shocks for it.

"My sons, I apologize for not meeting you after patrol like I normally do, I was in a deep meditative-" The well known father and sensi of four ninja children trailed off when he entered the common area, "what happened?" He demanded noticing something was wrong,

"we fought the Kraang," Leo stopped pacing, telling Master Splinter the truth, but not the whole truth, "Had a bit of a close call." Leo ended, by putting a tender hand on the bandage around his middle.

"there is something your not telling me." Splinter's voice rose a bit in anger, "Where is Michelangleo?" They all remained silent for a few moments,

"we kinda...yelled at him." Donnie finally spoke up,

"oh. Just yelled at him?" Splinter said disbelievingly,

"We kicked him out," Leo said in the lowest voice possible, his brothers coming to stand behind him, also adverting their eyes from their Master.

"YOU WHAT?!" He yelled in more anger than they have ever seen, "You find your brother, NOW!"

"Hai sensi!" They coarse quickly, and dashed off frightened.

"Leo," Raph said to the oldest, fear that he has been concealing for the past half-hour showing true in the dark sewer pipe,

Leonardo looked to him as his answer,

"We messed up." Leonardo couldn't tell why those three words cut through him so deeply.

* * *

They ran along the rooftops for hours before Donatello stopped,

"What is it Donnie?"

"look down." was all he choked out, the two older sibling looked to their feel, in the rain the water lapping at their heels had a pink-ish tint. they've all seen enough fights in the rain to know that pink water meant blood, and a lot of it.

they followed the flow, worriedly, to it's source. they found the huge pool of blood, a snapped nun-chuck, and a note.

Raph dropped to his knees in the blood and did the one things he's never been seen to do ever, he howled in emotional pain, and sobbed,

Donnie clutch Michelanglo's weapon close to his chest and wept silently,

Leo read the note in horror, tears streaming down his face,

_Bonds be broken,_

_words be spoken,_

_the hero of yesterday has fallen._

_Arise the knight,_

_bring forth the light,_

_Fight for tomorrow and not today._

_breath in fast,_

_forget your past,_

_your world is ours now._

_leave your blood,_

_prevent the flood,_

_you have arisen to a different fate._

"Mikey's...dead" Leo choked. He pulled his broken brothers together, and they drowned out their pain in each other.

Michelangelo awoke to have straps holding him down, he saw the arrays of knives and needles, lying next to him on a table, and he started struggling,

"LEO! RAPH! DONNIE! HELP!" but then he remembered, they won't be there to save him anymore. Accepting his fate, Mikey turned and cried into the crook of his elbow, searching for any kind of comfort.

_"all be well child." A soothing voice cooed, "your safe now."_

The plot was rushed. A LLOOOTTT. okay, but the rest will definantly be better, I promise. please comment, New Chapter coming soon!


	2. Three Years Later

_**3 Years later**_

**Raph's POV**

getting over the death of your brother is probably the worst thing that one is supposed to get over, I can honestly say I have never felt more sorrowful in my life, I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, and when I did my dreams were haunted of different ways my little brother could of died, each one more morbid and terrifying then the last.

Leo and Donnie had the same problem, not that I blame em', we all took a pretty darn big part in driving our little brother away. I still feel like it was mostly my fault, I added the most gas to the fire, and screaming after him to never come back...

_Oh little brother, I wish you did come back. Why didn't you come back?_

"Raph," I turned from my desk to see my most stealthy brother staring at me, "Happy Mutation Day," he gave a small half-smile, the pain evident in both of our eyes,

"Happy Mutation Day." I returned to my only older brother. Not even trying to fake the same smile. There were a few days a year where Mikey's disappearance was most evident; the anniversary it happened, and our Mutation day, and all the other holidays.

"were finally 18," Leo shrugged, pointing out the obvious, "looks like were technically adults."

"Technically," I agreed, "I don't think we'll ever truly be adults." I let a tiny grin tug at the corners of my mouth, Leo let out a light chuckle,

"heh, yeah, that's true." we lapsed into silence, eyes to our toes. I let out a breath and finally said what was on everyone's mind.

"I miss em' Leo." Leo dropped his facade, and nodded solemnly,

"Me too Raph, me too."

"He was always the life of the party, Mutation day sucks without him,"

"yeah,"

"Especially after Splinter..."

"enough." Leo didn't order me with any kinds force, just a pleading tone, "we lost...a lot of family and friends in the past three years, lets just try to forget about that, and have a good mutation day," His tone contradicted his words.

Things have been so slow since defeating the Shredder, and the Kraang being so dormant. April moved off to Spain for some kind of art school, she wouldn't be back from collage for four more years. Casey...ugh, what does everything have to go so wrong?! My partner met his end by my former partner, Spike, or Slash. and I'm not going into the death of my father, I'm so done with everything. The second we found out Mikey was gone forever, nothing went right from then on.

So, we were all alone, just me, Leo, and Donnie.

"Hey guys, I got a cake," Donnie poked his head in, a smile forced smile on his face, "want some?"

"Yeah, braniac," I walked out of my room, gathering my only family left under my arms,

"Your so short Raph!" Donnie teased,

"I second that!" Leo agreed,

"shutup," I laughed, shoving the two away, "especially you Leo, we're only a few inches apart!"

"yeah but those few inches borderline tall and short,"

"they do not!"

"there's gotta be a limit somewhere!" We laughed and joked, but deep inside there was a gaping hole where our youngest brother was supposed to be.

* * *

we were running away. AGAIN! all because fearless leader wasn't feeling all too fearless today!...and maybe because the guys chasing us had REAL guns and we were on their turf.

Okay, so we were looking for some Kraang using Donnie's Kraang Tracker (Mikey would have come up with a better name, I know he would of) and we found tons of Kraang-like radiation coming out from a building, it was boarded up and old looking, but we took a shot at it anyway, Donnie said the most radiation was coming from the basement, which upon looking at the cellar door, it was a HUGH metal slab bolted in and had three things on it, One there was a keypad for some password, then a fingerprint scan, then an eye scanner. this didn't look like the Kraang's usual handiwork, but it had to be.

I did the one thing I could do, RAM INTO IT SHOULDER'S FIRST AS HARD AS I COULD! and that set off an alarm, and FROM FREAKIN' NOWHERE WE WERE SURROUNDED BY SIX MUTANATS WITH GUNS! SIX. FREAKIN. MUTANTS! WITH GUNS!

So we're running.

I looked back to see if they gained any ground on us, I was relieved and disappointed to see they hadn't moved closer, but we hadn't gotten farther away.

_Wait a minute, they had six guys, there was only two back there...what happened to the other...oh no,_

"LEO!" what all I got out before we were enclosed on every side. there was a rush of wind quickly around us, then the blur resided to a thin cheetah mutant, with our ninja smoke bombs in her filthy paws!

"Sorry boys!" She smirked, and threw them behind her, all of them going off. She had a red bandanna around her neck, while the other five wore similar bandanna's only their's was white and had a symbol of a half human hand and the other half a paw on all of them.

"Duke," she snarled, her eyes not moving from mine, what looked like a mix between a German Shepard and a man lifted his head some, not moving his eyes from us, nor his gun.

"Tranq em'." she spat, before we could bat and eye, three shots were fired, and three targets hit.

I pulled the dart out of my arm as fast as I could. but it was no use, the sleeper was already in my bloodstream, we all struggled to stay awake, but it was impossible. I caught one last thing before going under,

"what do you think of em' Gypsie?"

"Hm, with training they could MAYBE become great warriors. Just maybe."

* * *

**Mikey's POV**

I woke up this morning feeling off, but I shook the feeling for the sake of my team and hopped out of my bunk bed.

"Rollo, Steven," I hissed to the two other mutants occupying the other bunk bed, I had no one sleep under me, but these two shared one.

"Hey! get up!" I yelled at them. Steven stirred some, but not enough to get his feathered butt out of bed.

"CAT!" I screamed, and that got Steven, the occupant of the bottom bunk to try to fly away like crazy, thus awakening Rollo, who screeched in panic. I Smiled till my counterparts were on the ground looking to me expectantly,

"I said wake up, you two."

"Michelangelo you jerk." Rollo heaved, rubbing the horn on his nose, I turned back to my bunk and chuckled at the Senior officers, Yes they were senior, but I was just one stage ahead; Advanced. I took out the black cape every Advance had, each Faction in the Lodging had a Advance, that would be the keeper of the sector, I was the Advance over the Combat Sector, the most advanced, dangerous, and respected Sector. Being the Advance of the Sector, I was second to only the Chief!

I slipped the black metal chest brace I had, it went over my shoulders and over the upper-par of my plastron, it fit perfectly with my muscular shape. and I turned to face the frazzled brown Hawk and Rino.

"you play dirty Michelangelo," the mutant hawk rolled his shoulders, and folded his wings behind his back, Steven had hawk talons, face, and wings, but the legs, torso, and arms of a normal human. a skinny one.

"What can I say?" I shrugged, "you wouldn't wake up."

"heh, we'll get you back for that." Rollo chuckled, brushing it off easily. I smiled to my best friend, Rollo had been there for me since day one. Literally, Rollo was the one who took me here. He saved my life, showed me the ropes, mentored me from a scrawny scared turtle into one of the most powerful respected official in the resistance.

Rollo was a large Rino, he walked on two feet, and carried a heavy shoulder-fired missile launcher, not that tiny child-toy that Leonardo used to take down the Kraang ship, a REAL one.

I seethed to myself, I hated them. With a passion I did! They kicked me out and left me for dead! I would of died if not for Rollo, I shrugged it off, they probably thought I was dead, and was glad of it! Oh freakin well for them! I didn't miss them, but Casey, and April sometimes, but I did really miss Master Splinter, I wish he was a part of the resistance! He would be AWESOME!...hm...then again, we dont do combat hand-to-hand a lot, we only use guns. And Sensi gave us a throughout lecture on the dishonorablity of a gun. but this was different! I was using it for good! not evil!

"Michelangelo," Seven stopped me as I was tying on my mask, "why do you always wear that mask?"

"It's frowned upon to speak of our past, Steven." I reminded him bluntly,

"We're also supposed to break all ties from our past." He pointed out,

"this ISN'T a tie, it's an honor. I'm a ninja, no matter if I'm and Advanced Combator, or the Chief!" I declared, adrenaline starting to flow, "I'm a ninja. No matter what changes, this never will. It's a skill and an honor. It's not my past. it's who I am."

"Sorry for prying," Seven shrugged, and started to armor up. I nodded and finished putting the bullet proof vest on, and metal protectors on my upper and lower arms. Same for my legs, but the metal for my thighs only had metal on the back, front, and outter area, just so the metal didn't rub agents each other. the other metal piece covered my entire shin though.

"lets go." I said to them, there where three bunk beds in the room, six beds, and only two bunk beds, three beds were occupied. By us, of coarse. the room was just big enough to fit the beds and a small desk for each of us to put our gear.

I finished suiting up by putting two sashes of bullets criss-crossed across my chest, and swinging the leather strap of my shotgun to my right shoulder.

I smiled, I wasn't the ADHD weakest link anymore. I didn't laugh at stupid things, nor did I act childish. I wasn't a kid anymore. I have never been happier. I also didn't go by MIKEY anymore, just Michelangelo, OCCASIONALLY Cy calls me Mike, only when she is teasing me. Some had nicknames, but Mikey was childish, and dumb. Michelangelo was the name of a brave warrior, not a child.

The same flare of uneasy came back up, but I pushed it down.

"Michelangelo," Rollo looked to me when Steven flew ahead to join some of his bird buddies.

"yes?"

"I just wanted to let you know something," I felt a bit nervous, I still didn't know how Rollo felt about me becoming the new Advance opposed to him who has been here longer than I have,

"Yes?"

"Well, I kinda had a feeling you've been a bit uneasy about talking to me about being Advanced, but I just wanted to tell you, that even though you were my Apprentice, your still somewhat new, and you outshine everyone, I'm proud of you." I stopped in my tracks, I looked up to him,

"R-Really? You are?"

"of coarse! Every Advance had to be SOMEONE'S apprentice, and I'm as proud as I'll ever be to be able to say that you were my apprentice."

"thanks Rollo, you don't know how much it means to me,"

"anytime." he patted my shoulder, and we continued trekking through the halls, some mutants coming out of their dorms stretching and yawning, I knew all of them by name.

"Rollo! Hey!" A familiar face came up to us,

"Gypsie!" He smiled at the Cheetah, Gypsie had three hoop earrings in her left ear and one diamond stud in her right, Gypsie was girlfriend to Rollo, and they are such a cute couple in my opinion, Big bulky Rollo the Combator, and small fragile Gypsie the Retriever. I couldn't imagine how she got four earrings, ugh, I shrieked when I got an eye-ridge pierced, twice. I got a small black hoop, and a stud. I defiantly admit that it makes me look awesome! It hurt a lot though, I guess it just hurts more than the ear, not that I would know.

I decided to leave the two alone, I looked and found another fellow Combator on their way to breakfast, a tall silver cat named Cy

she was beautiful, one yellow eye, the other was covered by a large slab of metal, and a black spot where her eye used to be, and a white dot where her pupil and color of her eye would be. her left ear was ripped completely off, only a few shreds of skin where it used to be, she wore a white shirt, and a black jacket over it the sleeves reached her wrists easily, but the bottom only reached a bit past her ribs. She wore tight black pants with a green patch stitched onto the left kneecap, a stretch of metal perfectly fitting across her shoulders and front of her collar bone like all of the combators, orange combat boots that only came up a bit past her ankles, she wore a loose brown belt with a rope gently hanging off it, and showed off a little bit of her flat belly from the high-ish shirt to the kinda low-cut pants, which I always tickled her there, she hated it, but I loved to hear her laugh.

"hello," I smiled, stroking a tender teasing finger across her shoulders,

"Michelangelo," She smiled to me, her ears perking up a little. "I see you slept well,"

"I did," I grinned, everyday was the best day ever! "You look like your bursting with excitement, something you wanna tell me?" I eyed her, noticing her tail quivering in excited anticipation,

"didn't Gypsie tell you?!"

"no, tell me what?"

"they got THREE mutants this morning to recruit!"

"sweet!"

"I know!" She gasped in excitement, "AND the chief overlooked their put-off tape, and said they'd be most suited for the Combators!" the Put-off tape was the small camera in the bandannas of the retrieval team, the chief checks them to see what sector their skills are best suited for.

I was seething with excitement, we've never had THREE mutants come in at once! it was a super rare occurrence! I decided that right after morning training I would rush down to the Chief's office and ask if I could mentor them. Mostly because I wanted to change their lives for the best like Rollo changed mine. I smiled widely, this was gonna be the best day ever!


	3. Your new Mentor

**Leo's POV**

I woke up bound to a chair, I struggled, but I was bound tightly by chains. a quick survey around told me that my other two brothers were bound in similar chairs next to me, we were in a plain white room, the only door was in front of us.

"Leo...What...where are we?"

"I don't know," I said evenly to Raph who finally woke up, Donnie following the suit.

"Leo, do you think-" Donnie was cut off by the door swinging open, reveling the German Shepard mutant by the name of Duke. He was writing on a clipboard and speaking out loud while doing so,

"O-kay, Three mutants, Male, around..." he eyed us up, "say 18...19..20 years old." he scribbled on the clipboard, "Alrighty, lets make this easy, okay?" he tipped his head in a doggish fashion,

"who are you?! Where are we?! What do you want?! Who are you working for?!" Raph screamed out. Duke let out a small puppy-ish blink, before to our surprise answering his questions.

"My name is Duke, I'm a part of the Retrieval unit. You are currently at a special underground HQ we call the Lodging. I want a bit of info on you guys before I give you your official orientation. and I'm working for the Chief."

"who's your Chief?" I asked, obviously this one was an open book,

"just...my Chief."

"what's your Chief's name?"

"well uh...Gee I don't know turtle," Duke scratched his head with the barrel of his loaded gun, "everyone just calls Chief Chief,"

"describe Chief's looks to us."

"um okay, she's tall, human standards, short blond hair, blue eyes-"

"she?!"

"yes, chief is a she,"

"Duke," I said at last, "why are you giving us all this information?"

"cause' this is your new home silly!" He smiled, he must of saw our confused and bewildered looks, so he elaborated further, "I know the chains are a bit misleading, but that's just so you don't attack me or anything! Considering your abilities are amazing the Chief decided to place you in the Combator's sector, a great honor! Until the Test of Membership, that is. You'll learn our ways and fight along side of us as our brothers in arms!"

"fight agents whom?" I asked,

"The one mutants EVERYWHERE are agents; The Kraang!"

"waitwaitwait...slow down there Dunk,"

"Duke,"

"whatever, You kidnapped us to fight agents the one's we were already fighting?" Duke fidgeted a bit,

"Kidnapped is a harsh word..." he coughed, "but you have a better chance taking them down with an advanced army on your side." he then chuckled, "but those stupid blades and sticks have got to go." He walked over to us, "now, Imma untie you alright? just know your among friends, and if you try to hurt me bear in mind there are snipers all over the Lodging and some pointed right at you." we all looked up, and I caught a glimpse of a moving shadow to confirm his words.

I felt the chains loosen up around me, and I stood along with my brothers,

"C'mon now! It's almost 8 AM, that's when morning training ends and Rec hour begins, these halls get pretty darn crowded then," duke opened the door he came in from, letting out to a wide hall, "so we better get to the chief's office stat!-"

suddenly a small blur ran past us, giggling.

"Hey!" Duke barked out, and the blob stopped, it was another mutant! he was a child though, a small viper-like mutant.

"What do you think your doing?" he scolded him,

"training," the Viper answered, the viper had the arms, face, and chest of a human. but his legs, belly, and feet were of a snake's.

"I don't think so, Your not allowed out of your class. not till 8AM." Duke told him,

"I'm training to be on the revival team! I can run real fast."

"Admirable goal, and true your quickness is quite skillful, but you better get back to your class as stealthy as you left before I tell your mother, Hanius."

"SIR YES SIR!" Hanius slithered off in the direction in which he came, and Duke shook his head.

"you'll get used to it here, you'll love everyone! Were all just one huge family here!"

"there's children here?" Donnie asked, concern rising in his voice,

"coarse, the combators go on regular prison breaks to free any captives if the Kraang have them. If their mutant, we keep em' here and give them a life worth livin', if their human, we knock em' out and bring em' home." He smiled as he walked in front of us down the halls,

"I know you all are just looking for some kind of catch, or some crazy flaw or something, but I assure you, we're good, and things are near perfect here!" Duke smiled,

"near perfect?" Donnie inquired,

"yeah," He said, turning his snout so he could face us better, "I think the Test of Membership is taken a bit too seriously, I mean, yeah it's serious, but failing it comes with a crazy cost." he shook his head, "I don't like it, but hey, it kept us all alive and ticking. This place gives us a chance at a better life, a chance to have many friends," then he put the back of his hand to the side of his mouth as if to tell a false secret, "and the opportunity to date n' mate, if your into that sorta thing!" he chuckled, "some of the kids here are pure bred mutant children, I know my buddy Gypsie and her mate Rollo may be planning something, i don't know."

"so," I said at last, "this is just a mini community focused on taking down the Kraang?"

"you got it buck-a-roo!" Duke smiled, then stopped at a door. there was a metal plate next to it that said "Chief" engraved into it. He knocked without hesitation.

"Chief! The recruits are here!" He called,

"Send them in, you may continue onto your duties Duke Retriever." Duke opened the door and motions us in,

"you'll be fine! Chief is great!"

We stepped in, and the door shut behind us.

We were met with someone with their back to us,

"Sit." it wasn't a suggestion or invitation, it was a calm, collective demand. I felt an air of respect for her already, we did as we were asked and sat in the three chairs already there in front of the chief's desk.

she turned and I got a close look at her. light blue eyes, short jaw length hair, just one singular shade of blond hair, broad shoulders, two dark black streaks stained each of her cheeks, dog tags, a mud brown shirt, an army-green singular colored jacket, tan kacki shorts that reached her knees, orange combat boots that raised only a few inches above her ankle, and sunglasses on her head.

She let off a warm smile, as if she was already proud of us.

"names?" obviously she wasn't a beating around the bush kind of person.

"Leonardo," I said first, "this is Rap-" she held up her hand,

"I'm sure your friends can explain themselves."

"Brothers," Raph corrected, "were brothers."

"yes, of coarse, go on." she said, but it sounded like she didn't care.

"I'm Raphael."

"Donatello."

"good, now I'm assigning you three to the Combator's sector, at least until Apportion Day."

"um, whats that?" I asked, a bit worried, for it sounded a bit painful.

"Apportion means to separate-..." Donnie explained then trailed off from the glare he received from the Chief.

"thank you Donatello Rookie. But I think I'll take it from here." she told him, and Donnie blushed, "Apportion Day is the day when we test your skills to see which sector you fit into best, but for now, your just Rookies, so I assign you to a sector till the ceremony. Your the first Rookies of the season, so there's no other Rookies yet. We have Apportion day every solstice. I'll be sure to get you a suitable mentor, or less more than often, someone will volunteer to."

I wasn't too sure how I felt about being in the Lodging, with a bunch of random mutants I don't know. But for some reason I felt safe, safer than I ever felt since Mikey...passed. Even with everyone carrying traq guns, and from above sniper rifles. but apparently Raph didn't feel the same.

"you can't do this!" he hopped up and took three paces toward her, "YOU CAN'T MAKES US DO ANYTHING!" then the shadows came alive and raph was surrounded by mutants in ski-masks with sniper rifles.

"Raph," I said, feeling somewhat embarrassed at his behavior. "sit down, please." Raph fixed me with a glared, and I met his glare with a 'I'm leader and what I say goes.' look. which he eventually subsided, as did the snipers.

chief didn't even flinch at the out-burst.

"Raphael Rookie, clam yourself, you only are required to stay till Apportion Day, then you can choose to leave if you wish."

"Well lemme tell you a few-scuse' me?"

"you heard me, we don't require for you to stay with us. It's just Ideal you understand whats best, but you can choose to leave next Apportion Day." she told us, and a machine-like tone sounded throughout the Lodging, and a bunch of voices, shouts, laughs where heard from out the door,

"yes, Rec hour, now please go into that room while I find a suitable mentor for you three." she motioned with her head to a door to the left, we all got up and did as told.

Once in the room, we realized it looked similar to the waiting rooms in a doctor's office like on T.V. we sat, I stared up at the ceiling, Raph played with his Sai, and Donnie fiddled with his T-Phone, mumbling curses about no reception.

* * *

**Mikey's POV**

I shoulder-thrashed my paint covered partner, smiles on our faces as our training session ended. Every sector had a different way of ending a match, or saying cool, or showing respect. for the combators, we just slam one of our shoulder's into the others. We practice with paint-ball guns, obviously we can't be shooting at each other, the simulator is fun, but fights are better in real life.

I was crisp clean from any kind of stinging paintballs, unlike my partner, who was smiling. He was just a kid, 13 years old, the youngest you can be to be out of youth and into a real sector. I didn't really like paintball training with members, only with seniors, Stations if needed.

the rankings were as such: prisoner, rookie, member, station, Senior, advanced, chief. Prisoner's were the Mutants that try to kill or hurt innocent people and are locked up for everyone's safety. Rookies were the newbies without a sector. Members were the newbies that had a sector. Staton were the one's who had served in their Sector for over a year. Seniors are who have served for over 5 years. and Advanced doesn't come with age, but with authority and many great feats.

So, no, I Never trained with members, but the look on the kid's face when I claimed him as my partner was worth it.

"Keep practicing kid." I told him, "you're coming along rather well."

"thanks Michelangelo." He smiled at me, despite being covered in paint. I laughed, and ran out of the Combat training room, heading straight for the chief's office to claim the rookies before any other combators did, though they probably didn't want to.

I knocked, then without waiting for a response, came in.

"Chief," I huffed, breathing heavy,

"run a marathon, Michelangelo? I seemed to have missed the memo." Chief gave me a wiry bemused grin. I chuckled, out of breath,

"nope, you didn't miss anything." I told her, "I...just wanted to..uh...can I mentor the Rookies?" Chief smiled

"you really pushed yourself to the limit to get these guys."

"I...really want to...be a mentor."

"why?" Innocent enough question, so I answered truthfully.

"Well, Chief, when I came here, I was terrified, even with all the reassuring, Rollo, he mentored me through it, he was my friend when no one else was. I wanna be like him." Chief smiled,

"well, noble goal. hope you can keep up with em'. there is three of them,"

"no prob, Chief."

"they're brothers, so they may gang up agents you,"

"I'll take that chance."

"just what I wanted to hear." She nodded, "by the way, is wearing masks a turtle thing?"

"excuse me?"

"nothing, nothing. their in that room" the nodded to the door to the left, "go crazy Michelangelo."

"thanks Chief."

"thank you." she tossed me a clip board, "here's some info, go on in."

I smiled, and opened the door, looking at the charts while doing so,


	4. A Cold Orientation

**OMG thankyou all sooooo much for the amazing reviews and follows and favorites! I have honestly never gotton so many results! So, On I truck! Thanks for living with the lovely cliffhanger ;)**

* * *

**Leo's POV**

we've been in the room for only five minutes, but it's felt like five hours. Then the door finally opened, and my heart stopped.

"okay you three, I'm Michelangelo, I'll be your mentor till the Apportion Day ceremony." He was looking down at a clipboard, not looking at us. "I'm advanced Combator here, so I'm pretty much above all but the chief, I'll train you all right into perfect soldiers." He was wearing a black cape, metal armor on his arms and legs, his belt was gone, replaced with a bullet proof vest and two sashes of bullets. his nun-chucks gone as well, replaced with a shotgun on his back.

he was taller, and more musculin. a bit darker in shade, three large scars on his left arm, two going down, and one across the bottom of the scars. His eyes seemed to be darker, only a few shades away form mine. and two piercings on the top right of his eye ridge.

But he still had his mask. more of a dirty orange, it had a few tears that were fix up with black thread. I could hardly see his freckles beneath the black smudges of war paint, just barely, but they were there.

"I see your names are Leonardo...Raphael...and..." he trailed, staring at the board, then slowly looking up to us, the color drained from his face. we beheld each other for what seemed like ages. "oh. It's you." he said to us. he tenderly licked his lips. more staring. Raph was the first to snap out of his daze,

"MIKEY!" He screeched, jumping up, but the second he did, out Mikey had his shotgun pointed at Raph in a heartbeat. we all froze,

"stay where you are." he ordered with such authority, I was a bit afraid. His voice was defiantly deeper, like he hit puberty again.

he backed up a few steps, not removing his gun from his target, before dashing out the door.

"I don't..." raph looked back to us, tears simmering in his eyes, "I don't get it," I shook my head, not understanding Mikey's behavior. Donnie then gasped,

"guys..."

"what is it, Donnie?" He looked to us, horrified,

_"he still thinks we hate him."_

* * *

**Mikey's POV**

_**BAM!**_ I shut the door behind me, breathing heavily. Chief looked up to me questioningly.

"Michelangelo...?" she seemed a bit confused, as to why I was afraid.

"My brothers..." I heaved,

"what?" she asked, not hearing me,

"YOU BROUGHT MY BROTHERS HERE?!" I demanded in pure panic. Chief didn't bring my brothers here, heck, no one even knew I HAD brothers! didn't mean I wasn't angry and panicking!

"what? your brothers? Those guys are your BROTHERS?" she looked at me in disbelief. "i didn't know you had brothers...why were you apart?" one of the things frowned upon here was talking of your past. one, because it caused drama, two because no one cared, three it would make you think less of your mutant family. but sometimes, things had to come up.

"they kicked me out of the family. They hate me." I said, not daring to elaborate. My past was back to haunt me.

"I see. You must go back."

"back to my sector? I agree, I don't think that I'm suited for-"

"no, back in there." she motioned with her head to the door. "you're their mentor Michelangelo. Nothing has changed, go be a mentor."

"WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY?!" I exclaimed,

"no, I'm the Chief." she said evenly, "and just because these three are your brothers, doesn't mean you have to face your past again. They will know like you do, that the past is in the past. you got a clean slate here, and so will they. Get in there." she told me, a bit sternly at the last part.

"you're right chief, even if I don't entirely agree." she nodded, seeming a bit more sympathetic,

"do you want a few minutes alone?"

"I got this Chief, it's fine." I told her, and stood. I straightened my cape, closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly let it out.

_"the best way to get your fears under control, is to control your breathing first." Rollo told me in the mist of my panic, in the simulator._

_"dude," I squeaked helplessly. "help me..."_

_"don't panic, Michelangelo." he snapped in the rare occurrence of brutality towards me. "remember your body is chain-reaction prone. the second your mind registers fear and you admit to it, your heart races, which causes you to be short of breath, which causes shaking because of lack of proper breath, and without etiquette breathing conditions, it muddles your mind. which is a sure way to get yourself killed. Get your breathing under control, and worry about nothing else, control your breath, and regain the full control of your body, mind, and common sense. Deep breaths. Once you control your breathing, your mind will be unafraid, cause a positive chain-reaction."_

Cause a positive Chain reaction Michelangelo. I thought to myself. slowly I felt the blood coming back to my face, my hands and legs slowly stopped shaking, and my thoughts were more clear. I silently thanked Rollo for being a better teacher than I have ever known, and reopened the door and stepped inside, chart in my hand again.

"Alright, I'm Michelangelo, your mentor till Apportion Day. I'm here to show you the ropes, and how things work here, C'mon, we've gotta lot of ground to cover by the end of today." I told them, finally daring to look up into their eyes. I locked with Leo, then Donnie, then Raph. each in turn with an emotionless gaze, as if I had never seen them before. I internally marveled at how far I've come in the past three years.

They seemed confused but wordlessly stood, I nodded, and turned and walked off assuming they'd follow. And that they did.

* * *

**Donnie's POV**

Help me, something is wrong with him! He seemed to be void of feeling, he knew who we were, and he didn't like it, he just led us around speaking as if we were strangers. I hated it! I wanted to hug him close, beg for him to forgive me, I made a terrible mistake.

"right, and in there is the jail, there are four codes of security." He explained as we walked through, "this is code green, relatively simple area." Each prisoner had a metal collar on, no bars just a neon yellow sensor strip they were not allowed to cross, one to two people per cell. through another set of double doors was code Yellow, the cells had lazer bars and the same collars for the prisoners. Next set of doors was code red, which had small glass cells with had some kind of blue liquid inside, the prisoners not moving.

"in Code red we put them into a state of demobilization. almost impossible to get out of."

"almost?" I asked, attempting to play along and pretend that we weren't in any ways related. though just the thought hurt.

Raph and Leo turned to me, surprised at my bravery. Mikey winced a bit when I spoke, it was the first time he heard my voice in three long years.

"yes, there are what we call mutational defects. they are able to break though the immobilization process. meaning these guys are highly inhumanly intelligent serial killers."

"what do you do with them?" Leo found his voice in the question, Mikey seemed to again wince, as he kept his back to us as we walked.

"we have no choice but to put them through a state of insanity, and then we lock them into this room." He stopped in front of a heavily chained door. "code black." we heard maniacal laughter from the other side. "no one goes in there. it's scarring. there has only been four cases of these mutational defects." he turned and looked us in the eye again, "that we know of."

"there's mutational defects that you don't know of?" Leo asked, perplexed.

"yes, of coarse." He said, then turned and looked me in the eye with icy blue eyes. "I'd say you are one as well." I felt fear drop into my stomach. "but that won't be of issue as long as you don't kill anyone intentionally." he added with a dismissive hand, and continued walking through a door to the right, leading out into a wide hall.

"Mutagen was originally supposed to turn all mutants into a some-what dumb-minded state. So we'd be easy to control by the krang. but this chemical was very weak and rare, and it depended upon the mutant's tolerance. If it had a low tolerance, it would go federal. If it had a high tolerance, or a mutational defect, it would remain the same before being mutated." Something then snapped into place, the reason April's dad turned animal-crazy when he was mutated was because of his low tolerance, compared to Splinter who's humanity wasn't loosened in the slightest when he was mutated.

"Real smart, Mikey." I gave with a small smile,

"Michelangelo." He corrected me, looking over his shoulder. "no one calls me Mikey." he turned his gaze back to the hall in front of him. "it's a stupid nick-name." We continued walking along, in silence. It was painful to hear him speak to us with such venom. His name was always Michelangelo, but we've never called him anything but Mikey. Even when we were mad at him, we'd never call him Michelangelo. Even Master Splinter who had never uttered our nick-names a day in his life, had called him Mikey on an occasion or two.

Though his name was always Michelangelo, It kinda felt like it has always been Mikey.

"Here's the youth hall, ages 3-12 are in these classes. They learn mostly about rules, laws, what we are, and such. ages 0-2 are in the nursery. Once a youth is 13, they are assigned to a sector of their closest kin till Apportion day. and if they have no kin, then they remain in their class till Apportion Day." He explained while walking past. he showed us the different sectors and their respectful positions. the sectors were Chief, Combators, retrieval team, scientists, medics, Panickers, censurs, snipers, survival team, trainers, Mappers, watchers. going from most important to least important.

"the Chief, as you probably guessed is the leader of all of us. Answers to no one. Not a soul. Combators, that's my sector, are the one who actually fight the Krang head on. Retrieval Team are the mutants that brought you here, they go about finding new recruits and eliminating other mutant threats. Scientists, well that's pretty self-explanatory i hope. Medics, they're the one's that patch us up and take care of the sick and stuff. Panickers are the ones who evacuate the Lodging in case of a base attack, they're trained professionals. Centurs watch the jails and move them to a higher security prison if need be. Snipers keep everyone safe in case of outbreaks among ourselves. Survival team is a bunch of small groups of three all over the world who look for any mutations, It's rare, most of the mutants are in New York, but still, we're wide-spread. Trainers are the ones who train the youth to be members. Mappers are a lazy bunch who track and predict the mutational patterns and such to find mutants more easily. Watchers are the laziest of them all, they just sit around watching the outside of the base on a computer screen, it's the most disgracing job to obtain." He finished telling us the works.

It took nine hours to cover all the ground and for Mikey to telling us all the rules and such. We learned that we are not to speak of our past unless absolutely necessary, told us about rec hour schedule and such. And finally another tone rang out, and the halls were flooded again, by now we were used to it, but we still didn't like all the stranger mutants. They kept staring at us, mostly because we were new, but they kept doing double takes, looking at us, then Mikey, then us again. Then whispering amoungst themselves, and I knew why.

There was many different diverse mutants, sure there was flying ones, and more mammal ones, but none look anywhere close to the same. But us, we all had identical characteristics, no matter if Mikey looked like a tough dark warrior, he was still our brother by blood.

"Where are we going to now Mik-Michelangleo?" Leo asked, slipping a bit.

"to the grand hall. For dinner." I smiled,

"great! I'm starving! Is there Pizza?"

"nope." he said as if it was the most casual thing in the world.

"What?! No pizza?" Leo asked,

"no, each sector has a special diet that's specialized to maintain the correct body structure." he let a small smile pass his lips. "Medics are vegans."

"I don't wanna be a medic!" Leo shook his head,

I noticed Raph hadn't said a word since Mikey had taken off the first time we saw him. I gently nudged his arm,

"hey Raph, you okay bro?" he looked up to me from his glance at the ground.

"yeah Donnie." he breathed. we walked in and were amazed, it defiantly WAS grand! there were several LARGE cherry brown wooden tables. ten to be exact, and each table held twenty to thirty mutants! Each laughing and joking with their pals food already on the table.

"Alright," Mikey said and walked toward a table, then turned around and stopped us, "whoa whoa, what do you think your doing?" he asked us, crossing his arms. "this table is for Combators only, Rookies, OVER THERE." he pointed toward a small disgrace of a table in the corner. Well, it was okay looking, but compared to the others in the room, it was junk.

we all kinda watched Mikey go over to his table, and was greeted excitedly by everyone at the table, even a few others from other sector tables. I noticed the Combator's diet consisted of mostly meat...okay just meat. He sat between a large Rino, and a Cat-like mutant with a mechanical slab over her left eye, concealing it, but still having some kind of black socket with a white dot for a pupil.

I noticed how much everyone had looked at him, with such...admiration. He's more welcome there than we've ever welcomed him.

My mind wondered back to when we all tried to pass his around for partner, because nobody wanted to be with him. I felt more guilt eat at my stomach along with my hunger.


End file.
